Informational picketing at Alton Steel

Kelsey Landis, klandis@civitasmedia.com

Published 11:32 am, Friday, September 18, 2015

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Members of the United Steelworkers wave Friday to passing cars that honked their support for the union which is in negotiations with Alton Steel for a contract. A group of about a dozen workers walked a line in front of Cut Street at E. Broadway which leads to the steel mill’s main gate. less

Members of the United Steelworkers wave Friday to passing cars that honked their support for the union which is in negotiations with Alton Steel for a contract. A group of about a dozen workers walked a line in ... more

Informational picketing at Alton Steel

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

ALTON — Three days before their contract expires, Alton Steel workers held an informational picket outside the plant with signs reading “Fair Contract Now!” to raise awareness in the community about a possible strike.

The contract expires Monday at 12:01 a.m. If the company and the union do not reach a concensus or agree to a continuation of the current contract, there will either be a strike or a lockout.

A strike would be effective 24 hours after the contract expires to allow workers to shut the plant down. If workers decide to strike, the company is likely to lose customers, said Union Steward and Strike Coordinator Dennis Mouser, who has been out of work from the company off and on since December.

“Our existing customers are probably going to go somewhere else to get their steel,” Mouser said. “We’ll end up losing customers if there’s a strike.”

Mouser said the company has been thus far unwilling to make concessions on the contract. Negotiations have been ongoing since the beginning of August. Workers are seeking a three year contract with raises, an increase in pension contributions and maintained healthcare insurance costs. The company offer does not offer any increases except in healthcare costs.

The union includes about 245 members, and about 62 of those employees have been on layoff for the last four months. Those layoffs are attributable to the slow-down in the steel industry.

Asked if there was any hope of returning full-time to the plant, Mouser said, “Our only hope is that the steel industry picks up.”

For the employees not on layoff, there is still the hope that the company will make concessions.

“We remain very hopefuly that this gets resolved,” Mouser said.

As a result of the layoffs, employees at the plant say they are putting in 12-hour shifts up to four days in a row to make up for the shortage of workers. Alton Steel CEO Jim Hrusovsky said he could neither confirm nor deny that claim.

In a previous interview with The Telegraph, the CEO declined to comment on details of negotiations, saying, “We’ve had some very productive and meaningful discussions. We continue to negotiate. We’re continuing to run our mill.”